What You’ve Missed

On Deciding to Change my Name

Its already May, and that means that Lorenzo and I are getting married soon.

Officially. *squeal*

Lorenzo and I are going to get our marriage license after Memorial Day. We set this date 6 months ago and I can’t believe the time is finally coming. I know that a trip to the courthouse is going to be uneventful, but I guess for me its knowing that we will finally be married, I can stop saying “fiance” (such and annoying word), we won’t be “shacking up” anymore, and I can finally change my last name (hallelujah).

Yes, after we are married I’m going to change my last name, as soon as I possibly can, and no I’m not hyphenating. This is something I’ve been looking forward to for years…even before Lorenzo and I met. For a long time, I’ve wanted to change my last name and I used to pray to God that He didn’t send me husband with jacked up last name. Even though I like the way my name sounds, and Lorenzo has a great last name also, they just don’t sound right when they are hyphenated. Kind of reminds me of poop. No, really.

The main reason I want to change it is because I have an extremely common surname; so common that it is one of the top 10 most common last names in the United States. I thought my first name made me unique and would help me stand out, that is until I became an adult and realized there are probably thousands of other women with the same exact name as me and about 50 of them joined the Army around the same time I did- so I get their emails…and I have been…since 2004! Even with my new job here in Atlanta, I get emails and phone calls for other women who have the same exact name as I do. Lorenzo agreed that it sounded annoying.

In every unit I’ve been with in the Army I’ve been 1 of either 2, or 3, and on one occasion 4 people with the same last name. Lorenzo’s last name is somewhere in the upper 700’s on that list so I shouldn’t have to worry about the same issues I have now. Our last names are sort of similar, so I won’t have to change my signature too much and it doesn’t sound weird with my first name. I don’t have to worry about my name going anywhere because I have plenty of males in my family to keep it going (not that they need to) and I don’t own a business or have a “brand” to protect so, trust me, I won’t miss it. Plus, I’ve already ordered my new name tapes for my uniforms.

I spoke to Lorenzo about this and while he said he would be fine with it if I kept my last name, he would also wonder why I would want to (being fully aware of the reasons I’ve listed above). While Lorenzo is very much a modern man, there are some things that he tends to be very traditional about, so me not changing my name to his never crossed his mind until I brought it up. Well, this is one thing he doesn’t have to worry about because I want to change it. When we were going to all those bridal shows last year, I received a gift card for a website called MissnowMrs.com that helps you change almost all of your documents all in one shot, so I plan on taking full advantage of that. I know its going to be a pain…but its a nuisance that I’m actually looking forward to.